The Protector
by Ebony Rayne
Summary: Voldemort is dead, the war is over, and Harry is ready to relax and live his life, but there's one more loose end he has to tie up. Harry's going to Forks, Washington; because he has to, because he needs to, because Cedric Diggory is still alive. One-shot


**A/N:** OK, so this is one of those few "Edward is Cedric" stories. There's really not much to say about it except, well, read it.

Also, there is brief mention of _Lord of the Rings_. Now, to be completely honest, I have never read the _Lord of the Rings_ series. I have tried, but they bored me. I'm sorry. That said, my friends, who have, in fact, read the series, have assured me that many of the plot lines and characters are easily comparable to Harry Potter (not exactly the same, but comparable). I don't need to know anything but that about the books in order for the brief mention I write to make any sense, but should my sources be wrong, I deeply apologize to any fan I might offend.

Oh, and note number two, what is Cedric's mom's name? I can't find it anywhere. Frankly, I don't think JK found her important enough to warrant one; she was just kind of _there_, wasn't she? Anyway, I can't find it, so I'm going to name her Carolyn.

**Summary:** Voldemort is dead, the war is over, and Harry is ready to relax and live his life, but there's one more loose end he has to tie up. Harry's going to Forks, Washington; because he has to, because he needs to, because Cedric Diggory is still alive.

**Disclaimers:** I don't own Harry Potter and I don't own Twilight. They belong, respectively, to the beautiful and talented JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. I love you, I worship you, you are goddesses.

**Warnings:** Well, slash, duh. I'm making it Harry/Cedric-Edward. So, with Harry Potter, everything is canon up to the epilogue and any and all making out with Ginny Weasley in the Deathly Hallows. As for Twilight, they're just there. They are in Forks, Bella does not exist, and this is during summer break, you can just take your pick of which year. The Twilight timeline does not really matter in this story, I'm sorry.

**Thoughts** except during the section where I'm writing from Harry's and Cedric's POV. There's a note detailing when that is and what you need to know. "—:—:—" indicates a change in POV.

O

The war was over, Voldemort was dead, the Light had won, and yet, Harry wasn't celebrating. He had finally defeated the man who had ruined his life and was free to live the normal life he'd always wanted, as the rest of the world expected; become a professional seeker for England, then an Auror, then Minister of Magic, marry Ginny Weasley, (who had been pushing for a proposal for weeks now), have dozens of little children and live happily-ever-after because, really, wasn't that what the hero was meant to do?

But no; Harry was on a plane heading for some obscure town across the pond, hoping to tie up one last loose end before he could move on with his life. And it was all thanks to Dumbledore. As if he needed another reason to want to hex the old man.

It had begun after the final battle when McGonagall called Harry to the headmaster's office, stating Dumbledore's portrait needed to talk to him. Once there, Harry was told something that made him want to resurrect the old man just to kill him again.

Cedric Diggory was alive.

—:—:—

Edward sat on the leather couch in the living room, watching his brothers compete on two different Play Stations to see who could finish some assassin game first.

He glanced down at the book he was reading for the umpteenth time. It was a battered copy of _Lord of the Rings_ and Edward had no idea why he was reading it again. He had already memorized the series thanks to some vampire perks—hell, he'd read it so much he probably would have it memorized if he were human—and still, Edward couldn't think of a reason he would feel the need to review.

It was not the type of book he usually read. Being a vampire, he generally despised reading any sort of fantasy and much more enjoyed the odd romance or adventure narrative, but there was something about the characters, the plotlines, the overall tone of the story that seemed familiar to him. Not exactly comforting (as if their tales of war could comfort!) but familiar and, for reasons unknown, Edward rather liked the feeling.

Edward easily ignored Carlisle's thoughts as his sire answered the phone and returned to observing his brothers. When Carlisle let out a loud gasp, however, Edward tuned into his father's mind just in time to catch the thought **Oh God.**

"Carlisle?" Edward asked, vaguely aware that the rest of the family was anxiously waiting for their leader to speak. Edward tried once again to listen to his thoughts but only got an ominous blankness to show for it. "Dad?"

"Edward?" Carlisle questioned, almost as if he'd been unaware of the other's presence. Edward put his hand on his sire's shoulder and squeezed in assurance, whether his own or Carlisle's he couldn't say.

"Carlisle, what's happened? What's wrong?" Edward asked gently, leading his sire away from the phone.

Carlisle looked up and, had Edward been human, he would have gasped at the look in the other's eyes; desperation, confusion, longing, fear, and the deepest, most heartfelt regret.

"Edward," Carlisle began, his thoughts still stubbornly blank. Edward was positive he didn't want to hear what his father was about to say. "Edward, there's something you need to know."

—:—:—

Harry got off the plane and headed for his rental car, checking that the GPS was set for that town with the funny name…. Fork, he believed it was.

**No, wait,** Harry thought as he checked his destination. **Fork**_**s**_**. So close.** He sighed mentally in faux disappointment and fingered the potion he had moved from the pouch Hagrid had given him to his coat pocket as the car drove itself. He thought about what Dumbledore had told him about the brew. It was a very special mixture designed to flush out any memory altering substance or charm. It erased false memories and caused the drinker to relive their true memories at an accelerated rate. The potion would wipe away the memory fading effects of vampire venom and the charm placed by Dumbledore to convince Cedric of his false life all in one go.

Of course, with such a large amount of information, there was a chance Cedric could suffer brain damage, however, a vampire's mind can process things much more quickly than a human's mind and, should things look bad regardless of that, Harry was a skilled legilimens and could go into Cedric's psyche and hold him an arm's length away from the memories, allowing him to manage them easier. Harry only hoped it wouldn't come to that. He was sure Cedric wouldn't appreciate Harry knowing his entire life, good intentions or not. Harry knew he, himself, wouldn't.

The GPS beeped and Harry looked up, seeing a spectacular house in a gorgeous forest in front of him. The Cullen residence. He had arrived.

—:—:—

Edward looked up at the sound of a car pulling in, refusing to acknowledge his family around him.

No, not his family, his coven. Family would not keep such a monumental secret away from him, letting him believe in a life that wasn't his, that had never existed in the first place.

He was a wizard. An honest-to-god wizard with the robes and the pointy hat and wand and everything, and his fam— … coven hadn't told him. They had even gone so far as to alter whatever memories he would have a chance of recovering and having spells placed on the Cullen crests they wore to, not only keep the spells on him in place and block whatever magic he would gain access to, but keep him from hearing any thoughts they might have had about his true life. Edward looked down at the place where his armband once lay before he'd ripped it off in a blind rage. He still didn't know where he'd thrown it.

"Ed—" Carlisle began as footsteps came up their driveway, but Edward cut him off.

"Shut up," he ordered, his voice as stony as his expression. "There is _No._ _Excuse._" Everyone went quiet once more at that. Not even Rosalie had tried to speak to him after his magic had thrown her through a wall.

Edward flitted to the door in an instant and opened it just as the visitor, the wizard come to restore his mind, was about to knock. Edward examined him in the second before he let him in. The wizard was tall, barely an inch or so shorter than Edward himself, with wild black hair and piercing green eyes in an ethereal shade he'd never seen before. Edward could make out a lightning bolt scar beneath his fringe and a world-weary expression that spoke of war on his face. He was tan and lithe with the barest hint of muscles beneath his long black coat. Something sparked at Edward's memory, but, as he tried to grasp it, it moved away.

Edward let him in and the wizard headed for the armchair, sitting gracefully and leaning back. Surely the man knew of what they were, but he showed no fear or even wariness as the coven took their seats around him. Edward tried to get into the wizard's mind, but met a barrier. He decided it must be the man's magic and moved so he was in front of the jaded enigma.

"Hello," the wizard said in a calm tone. "My name is Harry Potter."

—:—:—

Harry looked around at the vampires from his seat on their lounger, ignoring the large hole in one of the walls that revealed their prop kitchen, and wondered if perhaps it would've been better if he hadn't come at all. Out of instinct, after strengthening his occlumency shields to block Cedric's new talents, Harry had begun searching through the coven's minds when he'd first entered the house for any signs of hostility and had instead found that Cedric had suffered a conspiracy much like his own; an immense secret had been kept from him for his "own good" and then revealed at the worst possible time for no other reason than it couldn't possibly be kept silent any longer.

Out of respect for the chance of having to enter his mind anyway, Harry had stayed away from Cedric's thoughts, instead choosing to read the sire, Carlisle, the hostile-looking blonde woman, Rosalie, and the empathetic soldier, Jasper, if he recalled the facts from Dumbledore's file correctly.

As Carlisle looked like he was about to begin his own introductions, Harry cut in. "I know who you are, who all of you are, and all about your vampire lives; I probably know more about your human lives than you do, as well, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" Rosalie and her mate, Emmett (who Harry suspected was part-giant), looked disgruntled, but Harry was paying more attention to Cedric, who looked pleased that they weren't going to play any games.

"This may happen one of two ways; one, I leave right now and you all may return to your lives as if I had never interrupted them, or two," Harry took out the memory restoring potion and held it up, it's deep blue colour catching the light; he turned to Cedric, "you take this potion and restore your memories."

Cedric looked as if he was about to snatch the potion out of his hands at that very moment, so Harry quickly continued with the speech he had mentally prepared about the possible side-effect. "Yet," he began, "should you take the potion, that, too, can go one of two ways. This potion is usually used to combat small chunks of memory being altered, not entire lifetimes. The sudden influx of such a large amount of information would lead many to have permanent brain damage. However, due to your vampric nature's highly developed mind, there is an extremely large chance that you will process it as easily as a human would process the usual amount of restored memories.

"On the other hand, there is a much smaller chance that, with all the memories about things you had previously believed impossible or nonexistent, your brain wouldn't manage as well as we'd hope. Should that happen, I would need your permission to go into your psyche while you're sorting out your memories and keep you emotionally detached to a certain extent so that you would get the memories and feeling brought on by those memories back without it being too overwhelming. The downside to that would be the fact that I would know your feelings and emotions from that point on as well but, as I stated previously, the chance that it would be necessary is very small. Please know that there is absolutely no chance of you suffering brain damage."

"If I give you permission," Cedric pointed out.

"If I may be blunt?" Harry asked. Cedric nodded. "If it looked as if things were going badly, I would go into your mind anyway."

—:—:—

Edward smiled ruefully and nodded. "I appreciate your honestly." He thought about the possible side effect for a full fraction of a second before he reached his hand out for the potion.

The wizard, Harry Potter, a name which tickled at his memory before it, too, moved away, handed him the vial and Edward drank it in one go.

His mind flashed with colour.

—:—:—

Harry watched impassively as Cedric collapsed, quickly telling his panicking coven that, vampire or not, it was normal to pass out after drinking the potion.

Harry then ordered them to move Cedric to the floor and prepare to hold him down should things go bad and he starts seizing. He explained to them that it could take up to two minutes for each year of his life to be properly reinstated, not counting the three years he'd lived under his false name.

Harry carefully observed Cedric's eyes, knowing that, on the slight chance his mind couldn't handle it, they would be the first to give him away by flashing between his new shade of amber with his previous shade of light blue.

The time had just indicated that Cedric had entered year 17 of his memories, the most delicate year due to his supposed death, when things began to go bad. Cedric's eyes flashed and his arm flew up, smashing into the face of the pixie-like seer, Alice, before her mate, Jasper, was able to hold it down. Emmett pounced on Cedric's leg before it could kick the sire's mate, Esme, in the side. Rosalie grabbed Cedric's other leg and Carlisle held his other arm down as Esme moved to brace his head and Alice straddled his hips to keep him from bucking.

Harry swung one leg over Cedric's chest and placed his hands over Esme's to indicate which way she needed to move Cedric's head for him to get proper access to his eyes.

Harry took a deep breath and plunged into the other's mind.

—:—:—

He had never felt anything close to this before. Old, false memories of a remote father and a dying mother in a disease-infested city were swept away and replaced with his true life of doting parents in a magical household.

His first episode of accidental magic, his first training broom, his first floo trip, his first portkey—these all filed in next to his first word, his first steps, his first tooth. They stored themselves neatly in his head, just waiting for that moment of nostalgia to compel him to look over them once more.

He didn't bother to worry in the face of the ecstasy he felt from his life becoming proper again. What did it matter what name he was going to use, where he was going to live, what he was going to do, when faced with such a complete and overwhelming sense of _right_.

Edward, Cedric, Edward, Cedric, Edward, Cedric, _who cared_?

He watched the memories, felt the emotions, processed and managed them all as they went by.

Getting his letter, going to Hogwarts, his sorting, his first class, his first Quidditch try-out, his first match, his first girlfriend, his first kiss…. The list went on and on and on and he cherished them all. This was his life, his real, true life, who he was, who he was going to be. How dare his coven try to keep this from him? How dare they take it away in the first place? He'd never known how unbalanced he'd felt until he'd been righted again.

Edward, Cedric, Edward, Cedric, Edward, Cedric, Cedric, Cedric, Cedric, Cedric, Cedric… Cedric Diggory. That's who he was.

Amos and Carolyn Diggory cared. The other Hufflepuffs cared. His Ravenclaw and Griffindor and, yes, even Slytherin friends cared. They cared for him, he cared for them, all of them, every last one, because that's who he was. Cedric Diggory.

Cedric stopped thinking about his family and friends when his last year as a human began to flash before him.

—:—:—

Harry quickly found Cedric's conscious and pulled him away a little, trying his hardest to ignore the memories flying by. He watched Cedric talk with his friends and study and finish his homework just in time for the Quidditch World Cup. He observed as Cedric and his father searched all over a hill in the early morning light for a dirty shoe. He saw from Cedric's perspective as they officially met, felt what the older boy had felt, and what he experienced shocked him.

—:—:—

Cedric had barely registered that the boy he was seeing was the same man from his living room, the same man that had been forced to enter his mind, before the emotions of the recollection caught up with him.

He watched as the memory of him looked at the memory of Harry as his father said something tactless and embarrassing, but he wasn't paying attention to that. Why should he when Harry—sweet, sincere, brave, selfless Harry—was looking at him with his glowing, brutally honest eyes? He stared into them, _really_ stared, and fell down, down, down, down…. He fell harder and faster than he ever had in his life. It was like he'd been hit in the gut with a bludger from a hundred feet up.

Cedric watched the rest of the year as he fell more and more for Harry; his sense of fairness, his determination, his strength in the face of adversity, his love for his friends and his familiar and his _life_. He watched as he tried to hide it by dating Cho, making jokes with his friends, and looking at the gorgeous younger boy as little as possible.

Finally, Cedric watched as the light sped towards him in the graveyard, going through a quickly placed, nonverbal _Protego_ and nicking his wand, leaving him alive long enough, _just long enough_ to get him to Hogwarts and save him. Cedric watched it all and knew that, had he died at that precise moment, it would've been exactly how he'd have wanted to; with Harry, near Harry, having Harry protect him and, maybe—_maybe_, for _just one moment_—love him. **(1)**

—:—:—

Harry was crying from the emotions he'd felt from the older man. He tried to force himself to turn away, but couldn't as Carlisle was called in to turn Cedric, couldn't as Cedric screamed in pain for three days straight, couldn't as the first words out of Cedric's mouth as he woke up, the last as his memory was altered, were "_Harry_! What happened to Harry!"

Harry couldn't…. He just… couldn't.

Then Dumbledore finished his spells and it stopped, and the next thing Harry knew, he was looking into bright amber eyes.

—:—:—

Cedric didn't know what to say as he stared at the tear-streaked face of his old classmate, but, just as those long three years ago, the first word out of his mouth was, "Harry…"

—:—:—

Harry stood up and got off him, ignoring the curious looks from the Cullens.

"I had no idea," Harry choked out finally, hands moving to wipe his face clear.

"You weren't meant to," Cedric told him. "But, now that you do…" He let the sentence trail off.

"I don't…. I can't…," Harry stuttered. "I…. I have to think." And he disapperated.

—:—:—

Cedric lunged blindly for the spot Harry had left just a millisecond ago, wondering what the hell vampire speed was supposed to be good for if he couldn't grab onto the man he was in love with before he could disappear.

He punched the wall, barely registering the stones flying out into the forest.

"Edward?" Alice tried hesitantly.

"My _name_ is _Cedric_!" he shouted, punching the wall again. "Where'd he go?" he whispered under his breath, not caring that the others could hear him.

"Why do you even—" Rosalie began before Jasper clamped his hand over her mouth, but Cedric still heard the rest in her thoughts; **—care about some useless human?**

"_Shut up_!" Cedric roared before turning to Alice, pointing at her almost accusingly. "Where did he go?"

"Ed— Cedric, in the state you're in I don't think—" she began before her mate cut her off.

"Just _tell him_, Alice!" Jasper urged her. She turned to look at him. "Trust me." And she did.

"Well, I can't _see_ everything, I think it's his magic blocking me, but I have a very strong _feeling_ that he's—"

Cedric plucked the location from her thoughts and took off.

—:—:—

Harry looked out at the land below him, beautiful and full of life, from his precarious position at the very top of what he thought was an old sycamore. He wasn't sure. It could've been oak for all he knew. That was more Neville's territory.

Harry had always gone as high as he possibly could when he needed to think. He was like a cat that way. While he was at Hogwarts, each time it had been one of the astronomy towers, but he had always preferred trees. Stone was cold and unfeeling; with trees, he could almost sense their life force keeping them there, feel the thousands of bugs and insects and birds and animals they gave shelter to. Trees were protectors, like he was.

**Yeah, and what do I protect now? Myself from Ginny?** He shuddered at the thought of the red head. That had been one giant mistake, but he had honestly believed that she had gotten over her infantile crush, not just pretended to because Hermione—kind, smart, naïve Hermione—had advised her to. Now that the war was over, she was expecting him to just run at her through a field of flowers with a wedding ring and a smile. **Yeah, ok, **_**ew**_**,** Harry thought, before he decided to stop avoiding the issue.

He had come to Forks to restore another's memories, seek redemption for something he had still blamed himself for, and maybe ride with the other boy back to England because, surely, he would want to see his friends and family and, perhaps, his old girlfriend. But no. Instead, he finds out that the person he had always considered, at most, a good acquaintance was in love with him, and now Harry needed to sort everything out and decide how he felt about the situation.

He sat and thought.

—:—:—

Cedric found Harry within a minute, knowing exactly where the old tree was. He had often climbed to the top of it to sniff for prey. Cedric ignored Harry's coat at the base of the tree, looking up to see the man sitting in just some old jeans, a sweater, and beat up combat boots.

He stealthily scaled the bark, knowing as he reached him that Harry could tell he was there.

—:—:—both POV—:—:—**Harry**—:—:—Cedric—:—:—

"I'm sorry." Not really. "You weren't supposed to find out." I'm lying. "At least not like this." Look at me!

Harry turned to Cedric and the vampire was once again trapped in that brutally honest stare. "Don't be sorry." **It's not your fault.** "We can't control things like that." **How would I know?** "But you shouldn't feel this way about me." **Because I don't think I'll ever feel the same way. The war took everything.**

"Why?" Because we're both guys? Because I'm older? Because I'm a vampire?

Harry shook his head. **Please don't make me.**

"Harry, tell me," Cedric begged. "Please."

"You don't understand!" Harry shouted, hearing the flapping of wings as startled birds took off. "You could _never_ understand!"

"Then _make_ me understand!" Cedric shouted back, desperate to help the man so obviously hurting. Let me in. Let me heal you. Let me _try_.

—:—:—

"I just came out of _war_! And I don't mean a month ago or even a week ago. I mean, Voldemort had _just_ been killed when I was called to come here. I got _one day_ of rest before I was shuffled off to the airport. I probably wouldn't have gotten that if they had been able to get an international portkey instead of having to make plane reservations. My _entire_ purpose in life, to kill that psychotic bastard, has been fulfilled at the cost of so many lives and childhoods.

"I've got a _godson_ I have to go back and take care of because his parents refused to stay out of the battle. He's with his grandmother now who just recently lost her only daughter, her new son-in-law, and her husband of I don't know how many years!" He forced the tears back and, in a wild move of either desperation to make Cedric understand or cruelty to make another share his pain, Harry grabbed the other's face and held it there as he forced him to live through the last three years of his life.

—:—:—

Pain. That's all Cedric felt. A horrible, deep-seated, _blinding_ pain. He watched as friend after friend after family after family were viciously struck down before their time. He watched as Harry's life unfolded before him, just one heartbreak after another after another. He felt the hit of each loss as Harry had. The ache of each ally murdered, each person tortured, each secret uncovered as he fought his way to the ending of the inhuman man behind the inhuman war tore at Harry with every crucial step until, finally, Voldemort fell and he was back in the tree with the man he'd fallen for.

—:—:—

Harry stared at Cedric, pure grief in his eyes, and didn't struggle as the other pulled him to his hard chest in a comforting hug. They stayed like that for awhile, Harry gradually relaxing against the cold muscles. Harry just sat there, wrapped in the arms of a man he'd previously believed dead, and let go.

—:—:—

Cedric just hugged him. He didn't speak, he didn't move, he didn't breathe. He just held Harry as the other man's tears soaked through his shirt, swearing he would shield him from the horrors of the world. He was stronger, faster, _smarter_ now. He didn't need Harry to protect him as he'd longed for all those years ago. Cedric would look after Harry as no one else had done. He swore it.

Suddenly, a new voice entered his mind.

I don't know what to do about my life, about this, about anything. I don't know if there's any possibility of me loving you as you love me. I don't know if that's another thing Voldemort took from me or if I'm just too numb right now.

**All my life, I've been the Golden Boy; always there, always ready, the sweet one, the innocent one, the strong one, the protector. And here's what I do know; I know I want to leave the wizarding world for awhile, I know I want to try new things before worrying about a job, I know I want to travel to exotic countries and learn their cultures, and I know I want you there with me.**

Cedric looked down at Harry, amber meeting vibrant green. **Because I know I want to give this a shot.** "If you're sure you still want me," Harry added, sounding insecure for the first time.

—:—:—

"I have waited for you for_ four years_," Cedric whispered, his breath cool against Harry's lips. "I'm sure."

And as they kissed, Harry also knew that he didn't have to be "the protector." He could be just Harry.

O

**A/N:** Well, I hope y'all liked it. I also hope I didn't make it too fluffy. And, if NEone can come up with a name, that would be great, because I'm not quite satisfied with the one I have now, though I do think it fits in an odd sort of way.

As for "why plane and not portkey," if you didn't fully understand from the story, the Ministry was in shambles. They wouldn't've been able to get the clearance from the American Ministry of Magic to get a portkey directly to the Cullen residence or even to the US. Why didn't Harry apparate after he arrived? He'd never been to the Cullen house before and thus couldn't take himself there.

**(1) **A long, long time ago, I read a story I think was named _Empathy_ and it was told from Cho Chang's point of view about Cedric's secret love for Harry. That's where I got the idea and I think I may have, (I don't _know_, but I _think_), I might have stolen _"Cedric watched it all and knew that, had he died at that precise moment, it would've been exactly how he'd have wanted to; with Harry, near Harry, having Harry protect him and, maybe, maybe, for just one moment, love him"_ from that story, or at least something to that effect. I can't remember the author, but if it turns out that he/she did write that line first (and if someone could tell me, that would be great), I am _really sorry_ and I disclaim it right now.

**9/8/10 **I have been informed by HP Slash Luv that _Empathy_ was written by dress-without-sleeves. I just confirmed it, thank you HP Slash Luv. Go read the story. It's great.

Oh yeah, and, random question to NEone who watches _Bones_; what ever happened to Zack? I mean, I know that it turns out he was working for Gormogon and was sent to a psychiatric prison, but what about after than? Because, in the beginning they still visited him a lot and then… nothing. A little help, please.

**3/4/11 **_The Protector_ has now been translated to French by the lovely HarPys. It can be found here:

http:/www. fanfiction. net/s/6773219/1/


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